/m/omnichatter

Reader Comments and Retorts

Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.

for general amusement I had relatives who went to the reds/nationals game yesterday which featured the ace pitching matchup. anyway, thought folks might enjoy the feedback from the daughter-in-law who is a baseball fan but not a hard-core baseball fan:

--the nationals defense is terrible
--jayson werth is gross.
--when told that johnny cueto is listed at 5'10" she responded, 'sure if he's wearing steve maddens'
--watching todd frazier bat (they were on the 3rd base side) she said he 'looks like a little kid trying to hold it'

The first point isn't really accurate. Ian Desmond's defense has been terrible so far this year, but their defense at every other position is between good and excellent. And while Desmond won't be winning any gold gloves, he's normally solid enough at SS. I do wonder if the defense wouldn't be improved by swapping Espinosa and Desmond though. Espinosa seems to be the better defender, so he'd probably improve the overall defense if he was at SS.

Wrigley home opener... which doesn't feel right because there are no snow flakes in the forecast. Still - supposed to be a wet day, but temps may get into the mid-60s, which is wholly too warm for the home opener as it probably makes it impossible for Brent Lillibridge to splinter should he get jammed with a good fastball.... more's the pity.

In this game, they leave him in for 114 pitches where he never seemed strong, never had control but it was only 5 and a third.

It's really tough in this day and age, for a manager to pull a pitcher before completing the fifth inning. Funny thing about pitch counts is that they may have reduced(or eliminated) the complete game stat, but at the same time, they have encouraged managers to keep pitchers in longer than they should be. Although to be fair, Strasburg's performance yesterday may not be the best example of that.

I thought folks would find the post funny. not an opportunity to dissect

I didn't really intend it as a dissection so much as an opportunity to say that it's funny how observing one game can leave a strong impression like that despite defense being an overall strength of the team. And it also leads to the point that Crispix made in post 8: a shortstop is so vital to a team's defense that a team with overall good defense can have a whole game undermined by poor SS play seemingly, like Desmond did against the Reds. And it sure feels like the opposite sometimes, like watching Iglesias play with the Red Sox. Your eyes see some of the spectacular plays he makes and you just think "wow he's gotta be worth playing no matter how poorly he hits", but if you look at it rationally even the best gloves at SS historically have only been worth 10-15 runs per year above average.

I am quite confident the Nats will have great defense overall by the end of the year, but Desmond is prone to some serious mistakes and Laroche has been out so he's not being picked up in the way he usually is (I didn't watch the game so I don't know if Laroche would have helped). Zim also is prone to some pretty bad games.

Do the Reds comeback against every team in baseball, or is it just against the Cardinals? It seems over the past 5-10 years that these two teams have enjoyed a lot of games where one team came back from a decent deficit to make it interesting.

I know a few years ago they led the league in come from behind victories and had a couple of other years doing very well.

If there is one piece of advice I wish Matheny would get from TLR, is that IBB are evil. TLR is to the IBB what Earl Weaver was to the sacrifice bunt....

walked in a run...you have to be kidding me. Our bullpen is supposed to be very good(if not elite) this year...hasn't looked like it so far. 4 walks(two intentional) and one out recorded....great performance Boggs.

I think everyone knew that he would have problems with playing centerfield, but the Reds felt that his offensive plusses would make up for it. Reds leadoff hitters had an OBP of .254 last season. Choo had a lifetime OBP of .381 coming into this season. That was a change that needed to be made, even if it meant making the defense a bit iffy. So far, the tradeoff seems to be working.

Do the Reds comeback against every team in baseball, or is it just against the Cardinals? It seems over the past 5-10 years that these two teams have enjoyed a lot of games where one team came back from a decent deficit to make it interesting.

John Buck just hit his third homer of the season. Met catchers hit 5 homers all of last season. I actually like Thole and think he can be an offensive plus by putting up a solid OBP but it is nice to get some power out of that position.